We all know that it is important to keep our machines secure with up-to-date security software. Unfortunately, most PCs sold today only have a trial version of a security suite from one of the major security vendors such as McAfee, Symantec or Trend Micro. These software suites provide excellent protection, but once the trial period ends you must purchase a license for the software to continue to work properly.

If you don’t have a lot of money to spend you can find many security tools available for free that will also provide a good level of protection. In addition to the many open source security tools available for download, most commercial security vendors provide some free security software for personal or educational use. Read the license agreements carefully, but usually as long as you are only using the software for personal, non-business purposes, it can be legally installed and used on your PC. Below are some of the better tools that I have tested and used. Enjoy!